KYIV, UKRAINE — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that Russia has begun deploying North Korean soldiers to storm Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region.

Zelenskyy said in his evening address that he had “preliminary evidence that the Russians have begun to use soldiers from North Korea in assaults — a noticeable number of them.”

He said that according to his information, “the Russians include [North Koreans] in combined units and use them in operations in the Kursk region,” where Ukraine has been mounting an incursion since August.

Zelenskyy said he has also heard that the North Koreans “may be used in other parts of the front line,” and that “losses among this category are also already noticeable.”

Zelenskyy said last month that 11,000 North Korean troops were in Russia’s western Kursk region and had already sustained “losses.”

Washington and Seoul have accused Pyongyang of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help Moscow, after Russia and North Korea signed a landmark defense pact this summer.

North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Surprised by the Kursk incursion, Russia has since continuously clawed back territory, halting Ukraine’s advance and rushing reinforcements to the region.

A Ukrainian army source told AFP last month Kyiv still controlled 800 square kilometers of the Kursk region, down from previous claims it controlled almost 1,400 square kilometers.

Ukraine hits Russian oil terminal

Ukraine said Saturday it attacked an oil terminal in Russia’s western Oryol region overnight, sparking a fire.

The governor of Oryol said on Telegram that fuel caught fire at “a facility” in the region after a “massive drone attack.”

The Ukraine military’s General Staff said Kyiv’s forces attacked a major oil depot in Stal’noi Kon, about 165 kilometers into Russian territory.

“It’s one of the largest oil terminals in the suburbs of the city of Oryol” and is part of a “military industrial complex” that supplies the Russian army, the General Staff said.

Russian media showed images, purportedly of the attack, showing clouds of smoke billowing up into the night sky from a fire.

Oryol regional Governor Andrey Klychkov said Saturday on Telegram that Russian anti-air defenses shot down Ukrainian drones during the attack and that the fire was brought under control at 5 a.m., although it had not yet been extinguished.

He said there were no casualties.

Other developments

In Russia’s Belgorod region, which also borders Ukraine, a drone attack killed a 9-year-old boy and wounded his mother and baby sister, said Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

He posted photos of the family’s home with a huge hole in the facade and the roof partially torn off.

Ukraine regularly attacks military and energy infrastructure in Russia, sometimes deep into its invading neighbor’s territory, in response to Russian attacks on its own infrastructure.

Kyiv’s General Staff said Russia attacked overnight with 132 drones, claiming 130 of them were downed or failed to reach targets.

Russia’s military said Saturday that it shot down 60 Ukrainian drones overnight.
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